


Skills

by witchymarvelspacecase



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 07:45:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12338412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/witchymarvelspacecase/pseuds/witchymarvelspacecase
Summary: Bucky x Enhanced!Reader. Requested by @erinneverland: bucky x reader with superspeed like quicksilver. Can be read as a continuation of “The Importance of Knife Training” or on it’s own.





	Skills

Steve told you to wait until he gave the all clear, but he’d also said that it shouldn’t take very long, and that he’d be in constant contact. Well, after 20 minutes and complete radio silence, you’d gotten worried.

It was a quick scouting mission, one that you and Steve together should have been overqualified for. It wasn’t even HYDRA, just a group of unincorporated terrorists hell bent on the destruction of the world (or something equally ridiculous). All you needed to do was wait for the all clear then run in and get whatever intel you could get your hands on; you were the fastest after all. 

Wanda had told you that Pietro could have outrun you, and you hadn’t argued with her; not wanting to tarnish her memories of her brother. But you were willing to bet that you’d have given him a run for his money.

Your superspeed was a result of unauthorized genetic testing that had occurred, unbeknownst to you, during an ER visit. You still hadn’t had any luck tracking down the doctor responsible. Although you had been angry at first, your drive to find him had waned significantly as time went on. After all, you’d found your home, your family.

Wanda and Nat were the sisters you’d always wanted, Peter was like a kid brother. Clint was a very dad-like influence when he was properly caffeinated, as was Rhodey. Steve was the overprotective older brother, Bruce the nerdy cousin. Tony… well Tony was the slightly crazy uncle, but his heart was in the right place, and he’d drop everything to help you if you needed it. And Bucky, Bucky was your heart.

Bucky had been the first to tell you that your desire to find the man who’d been responsible for your mutation wasn’t pointless. He never tried to dissuade you, only offered support and reigned you in occasionally when you ignored your own needs in favor of your search. Over time, the moments spent with Bucky became more important than the hunt, and before you knew it, you’d let it go entirely. Sure, you’d still like to smack the asshole doctor around for experimenting on people without their consent, but in a roundabout way, his experiments had given you your new family… you could only be so angry.

The Avengers were a crazy, mixed bag of people, many of whom came and went frequently, but they were a  _ family _ . A fiercely protective family. And you were protective of them in return.

“Steve,” you called through the comms, still receiving silence, “if you don’t respond in the next minute, I’m coming in after you. I will ignore direct orders.”

60 seconds later you were at the door Steve had entered. You peered around the corner, keeping your body crouched low.

_ “I know you’re fast, Sugar, but you can’t run all the time.” Bucky had been patient with you, explaining his reasoning multiple times until you relented. It wouldn’t kill you to learn how to sneak around at  _ **_normal_ ** _ speeds. _

_ “Alright, Buck, you win. Teach away,” you sighed, a small smile on your lips. _

_ Bucky’s smile, on the other hand, could have lit all of Time’s Square. He wrapped both his arms around you in a tight squeeze before releasing you and pressing a kiss to your temple. He mumbled a “thank you” into your hair before pulling away and getting to work. _

_ “Keep your body low when you’re checking around corners or through doorways. People don’t look down, at least not at first, they will notice anything at head level right away, but lower down gives you more of a chance to pass unseen.” _

Keeping Bucky’s lessons in mind was both helpful, and distracting. Because he’d taught you a lot, and the lessons had been good. But he’d test you every once in awhile, and if you got caught, which happened a fair amount, he’d get… creative, with your punishments. Those punishments were extremely thorough and not  _ at all  _ appropriate to be thinking about when Steve may have needed your help.

Shaking your head a little to dislodge a particularly  _ distracting _ memory, you tapped the comm in your ear.

When the team was unsure of the safety of a situation, or unable to talk out loud, you’d resorted to a type of morse code system. The two quick taps you used signified that you needed Steve to check in. You’d been hoping for any kind of response at this point, even a negative one would have reassured you that Steve was at least alive, but you received nothing. 

Cursing under your breath you headed to Steve’s last known location while opening your comm channel to the whole team. Using the quinjet that you’d flown in on as a booster, you were able to reach the team from almost anywhere. 

“Y/N? What’s up?” Tony asked almost immediately.

In response you tapped once quickly, then two longer taps, followed by one more short one to signal “ _ possible situation _ ”. 

“What’s going on?”

One long tap, one short, one long, one short; “ _ communication _ ”.

“Steve hasn’t been on comms?”

Two long taps; “ _ affirmative _ ”.

“How long?”

Twenty taps, one for each minute of silence.

“Shit. Stay where you are, Sam is being notified, he’s the closest. Ah fuck. You already went in didn’t you?” Tony groaned. 

Two long taps again.

“God dammit, Y/N! Steve’s gonna kick your ass. Fuck! I am  _ not _ telling the Metal Armed Menace about this! Hell no!” Tony started to ramble and you winced. Yeah, Bucky wasn’t gonna be happy about you running in like that.

“Y/N, why is Tony shouting at me?” came Sam’s voice; he sounded a little exasperated.

You sent him the series of taps necessary to at least partially explain what was going on as you waited in the alcove that Steve had been in when he’d last communicated.

“Do  _ not _ go any further, Y/N. You hear me? I am not explaining to Cap, let alone your boyfriend, how I let you run off on a half planned rescue attempt. I got so much to live for.”

You couldn’t hold back the small chuckle that fell from your lips. Having allowed that and not been attacked by unseen forces, you decided that speaking quietly wouldn’t hurt.

“Well I can’t have your untimely death on my conscience.”

“Damn straight,” Sam replied, and he’d likely had more to say, but the burst of gunfire from down the hall grabbed your attention.

“Shit,” you muttered and you ran at full speed towards the sound.

_ “You might be able to outrun a bullet, but that’s only if you’re paying attention and don’t run  _ **_into_ ** _ any,” Bucky had laughed as you washed the dye from the training bullets that Bucky had fired at you off of your clothes. The trainers fired just like normal bullets, but instead of leaving a wound behind, they left a splat of paint. You’d been clean until Clint and Nat had started shooting too. _

_ “Duly noted,” you grumbled. Though the training bullets didn’t leave a wound nearly as serious as the real ones, they did leave behind welts that stung as you moved. _

_ “You sore babe?” Bucky asked, and you could tell without turning to face him that he had a cocky smile on his face. _

_ “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. Just remember, I know where you sleep, Barnes.” That wasn’t an idle threat. You had absolutely no problem stooping to middle school level pranks to get even. And you wouldn’t have had a problem doodling permanent marker dicks on his face, or glitter gluing his arm. _

_ “Aw Y/N! Please don’t! I still have glitter in between the plates of my arm from last time,” Bucky pleaded, gently wrapping his arms around you and resting his chin on your shoulder. “How about a bath?” he said as a peace offering. _

_ “Better,” you smiled and relaxed, leaning your head back to rest on his shoulder as he began to press kisses to your neck. _

You were keenly aware of all the bullets flying around the room as you skidded to a stop just outside of it. All the bullets were aimed in the same direction, at a small, very familiar circular shape. Steve was pinned down.

Lining up, you burst into the room at the perfect angle, taking down most of the gunmen on entry. Hitting the far wall, you turned to survey the damage. There were a handful of shooters left, all looking different levels of baffled. Once they noticed you, all but one turned their guns towards you. You just smirked. Before their fingers even touched the triggers, you were in motion. 

Steve took out a total of one gunman, you had already taken care of the rest. A fact that you would have teased him about more had he not been a limping, bleeding mess.

“You’re late,” you said, tsking at him as he levered his body off the floor so you could slide under his arm to take some of his weight.

“Couldn’t call my ride,” he grunted, “but I got the intel.”

“That was supposed to be  _ my _ job, Rogers,” you said in your best “mom voice”.

“Yeah well…” he trailed off. You guessed that he didn’t really have a response.

“Sam,” you called, tapping on the comm, “We’re on our way back. Got the intel, we’re gonna need medical though.”

Sam cursed on the other end. You figured that he had assumed  _ you _ were the injured one, and was now trying to figure out how he could avoid telling Bucky. You didn’t bother to correct him, focussing instead on keeping yourself and Steve steady and on the right path. An injured super-soldier weighed a  _ ton! _

“Didja have to run the shooters over? No knives this time?” Steve asked through gritted teeth.

“‘In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.’ I had to come in and save your ass Steve, don’t nitpick. I do things the way I like. Also, I’m coming out in  _ much _ better shape than you so I don’t think you have room to criticize.”

As you were boarding the jet, you could hear Bucky’s voice come over the comms, “so how much is Steve bleeding this time?”

“How’d’ya know it was Steve that was hurt?” Sam asked as he opened the kit to help Steve.

“Cause my girl’s got skills, Wilson.” Turning to look at Sam, you stuck your tongue out at him.

“Mature,” Steve laughed.

“She make a face at ya?”

“Of course I did. I couldn’t pass up such a golden opportunity.” Bucky chuckled as you moved to the cockpit to pilot the jet home. The two of you chatted as you flew back to base. He was outside to greet you as you helped Steve off the plane, pressing a quick kiss to your forehead before taking your position at Steve’s side to get him to the infirmary, freeing you to go to debriefing.

An hour later, he reappeared, in your bathroom, while you were in the shower. You just shook your head and smiled. As much as he had sounded sure that you would be unscathed, you knew he worried. Ever since you’d been shot protecting Steve on a mission, Bucky had been more concerned than usual when you went on missions without him. Every time, he’d corner you, usually in the shower, so that he could check for himself, and make sure that you were okay.

“I’m okay, Bucky. Not even a papercut.” You leaned your head back to rinse out the shampoo you’d lathered in your hair.

“Well then you don’t mind if I check.” It wasn’t a question. Bucky wouldn’t be able to rest if he wasn’t sure that you were unharmed, and he wouldn’t be sure until he checked every inch of your body for himself.

Much later that night, you drifted into awareness, opening your eyes to find Bucky watching you.

“You okay, Buck?” He hadn’t had a nightmare in a while, but you checked all the same.

“I’m good,” he said softly. His voice was warm and scratchy sounding, like he’d just woken up too, “just thinking.”

“Bout what?” you asked, stretching a little and rolling to face him better.

“How glad I am that you’re okay.” You rolled your eyes before closing them, about to speak, but Bucky continued before you could speak up, “I love you, Y/N.”

You opened your eyes and smiled. It wasn’t the first time he’d said that, but every single time, you felt the same, warm sensation in your chest. You buried your face in his chest and pulled him closer to you.

“I love you too, Bucky.”


End file.
